Political economy, weltanschauung and the transformation of European security

Abstract:

European Security changed dramatically over the period 1980-2000. The first period ended in 1991 with the fall of the Soviet Union. In the second period from 1991 to 1994, the European Union tried to assert leadership. The United States provided leadership in the third period from 1994. The economic fortunes of these three major players and expectations about them played a major role. Moreover the shift in ideological emphasis in the US from neo-realism to neo-Wilsonian and unexpected American economic growth were also important in marking the shift from the second to the third period.